PhD Candidate, Biology- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

New York, New York

City University of New York

current - 2018

• Population genetic patterns and processes from local to global scales

M.S., Zoology

Carbondale, Illinois

Southern Illinois University

2018 - 2016

• Systematics, phylogeography, and landscape genetics of the Ameerega petersi group (family Dendrobatidae)
• Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab

B.S., Biology- Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior

Austin, Texas

University of Texas

2015 - 2011

• Includes coursework from the University of North Texas

Graduate Research Assistant

Michael J. Hickerson Lab

City University of New York

current - 2018

• Investigating evolutionary responses to environmental change across spatial scales.

Software Developer

Andrew Rominger

University of Maine

current - 2022

• Developing an R Shiny web application to simulate community assembly using the Rules of Life Engine model. It is meant to facilitate education and research.

Graduate Research Assistant

Jason L. Brown Lab

Southern Illinois University

2018 - 2016

• Completed thesis work on the evolution of Andean poison frogs.

Research Assistant

Texas Biodiversity Collections

University of Texas

2016 - 2016

• Herpetology Division
• Supported data collection and collections management for conservation efforts.

Undergraduate Researcher

Daniel I. Bolnick Lab

University of Texas

2014 - 2013

• Completed an independent project through the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates. Experimental design, field work in British Columbia, lab work, data analysis, and first-author publication.

Undergraduate Researcher

David Cannatella Lab

University of Texas

2014 - 2013

• Field work in support of frog acoustic research.

Field Technician

Middlesex, Belize

Toucan Ridge Ecology and Education Society

2014 - 2014

• Designed and executed field protocols for monitoring amphibian populations.

Collections Assistant

Texas Biodiversity Collections

University of Texas

2014 - 2014

• Ichthyology Division
• Collected and analyzed fish morphometric data for taxonomic research and digitized research collections.

Ecology and Evolution

CCNY Biology Department

New York, NY

2022 - 2022

• TA, BIO 228
• Led and prepared labs.

Reproducible Research

City College of New York

New York, NY

2022 - 2022

• Co-organizer and panelist. 1.5 hour panel on techniques for reproducible research.
• Hosted for members of the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior PhD program.

R for Reproducible Scientific Analysis

Columbia University

New York, NY

2021 - 2021

• Invited workshop.
• Half-day online workshop as part of the Pre-Statistics Course Bootcamp.
• Facilitated by Software Carpentries.

Introduction to Text Analysis in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2021 - 2021

• 1.5 hour online workshop for CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students.
• Hosted on rstudio.cloud.
• Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows.

Digital Research Institute

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2021 - 2020

• Five day series of workshops introducing CUNY faculty and students to digital tools for research.
• Two sessions- one in January 2020 and one in February 2021.
• Led the R track.

Reproducible Data Analysis in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

• 2.5 hour workshop on using RMarkdown and github for reproducible data analysis.
• Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
• Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows

Data Visualization in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

• 2.5 hour workshop on using ggplot2 for data visualization.
• Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
• Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows

Exploring population structure in R with adegenet and sNMF

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

• 1.5 hour online workshop given to an international group of evolutionary biology faculty and graduate students as part of the four day Bioinformatics Bootcamp for Ecology and Evolution.

Introduction to R and RStudio

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2020 - 2020

• Two hour online workshop for CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students.
• Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows.

Introduction to population structure inference in R

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2019 - 2019

• Invited workshop.
• Two hour workshop for Zoology graduate and undergraduate students.

Introductory R and RStudio

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2019 - 2019

• Invited workshop.
• 1.5 hour workshop for graduate students in the Quantitative Zoogeography graduate course.

Bioinformatic processing of ultraconserved elements for phylogenetic analysis

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2019 - 2019

• Two hour workshop to introduce graduate students to a bioinformatic pipeline.

SLiM 5-day workshop

CUNY Biology Department

New York, NY

2019 - 2019

• Co-organized five full-day workshop on SLiM population genetic simulation program

Data Wrangling in R

CUNY Graduate Center

New York, NY

2019 - 2019

• 2.5 hour workshop on using the tidyverse for data manipulation.
• Hosted within the workr R package as an interactive tutorial.
• Given as part of the GC Digital Fellows

BioSkills

SIUC Biology Department

Carbondale, IL

2018 - 2017

• TA, BIO 212
• Co-developed material for new writing and discussion-based course section.
• Concurrently ran ecology and developmental biology sections.

Introduction to Evolution and Ecology Lab

SIUC Biology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

• TA, BIO 212
• Led and prepared labs.

Vertebrate Anatomy Lab

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

• TA, ZOOL 418
• Led and prepared labs.
• Advised undergraduate lab assistant.

Reptile and amphibian survey and capture techniques

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

• Invited lecture, Curation of Collections (PLB 401).
• One hour lecture on best practices for herpetological surveys.

Appropriate techniques for identifying and handling reptiles and amphibians in the field.

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2017 - 2017

• Invited lecture, SIUC Wildlife Techniques (ZOOL 469).
• One hour lecture and field demonstration on best practices for herpetological surveys.

Introductory Biology for Non-Majors Lab

SIUC Zoology Department

Carbondale, IL

2016 - 2016

• TA, ZOOL 115
• Led and prepared labs.

Instructor

Camp Einstein Afterschool STEM Program

Austin, TX

2016 - 2016

• Summer afterschool program for early elementary school students.

Biostatistics

UT Biology Department

Austin, TX

2015 - 2014

• Undergraduate TA
• Assisted graduate TA with leading and grading R programming labs, and facilitating course discussion.

Sonification for Data Communication

N/A

New York, NY

2021

• Post introducing the concept of sonification, its uses, and its benefits.

RStudio Cloud for Education

N/A

New York, NY

2020

• Post outlining the advantages of using the RStudio Cloud system for teaching.

Funding sources for undergraduate research in ecology and evolution

N/A

New York, NY

2020

• Post highlighting funding resources for undergraduate research

PDIG Training Grant Spotlight: Connor French

N/A

New York, NY

2019

• Overview of a project I used the Provost’s Digital Innovation Grant to prepare for.

Interactively explore geographic data in R using leaflet

N/A

New York, NY

2019

• Walk through of creating an interactive map in R.

Global determinants of the distribution of insect genetic diversity

bioRxiv. 10.1101/2022.02.09.479762

N/A

2022

• French, C.M., Bertola, L.D., Carnaval, A.C., Economo, E.P., Kass, J.M., Lohman, D.J., Marske, K.A., Meier, R., Overcast, I., Rominger, A.J., Staniczenko, P., Hickerson, M.J.

Forest cover and geographical distance influence fine-scale genetic structure of leaf-toed geckos in the tropical dry forests of western Mexico

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 137(4), pp. 686-699

N/A

2022

• French, C.M., Berezin, C.T., Overcast, I., De La Cruz, F.R.M., Basu, S., Bernal, R.L.M., Murphy, R.W., Hickerson, M.J., Blair, C.

Phylogenetic relationships and systematics of the Amazonian poison frog genus Ameerega using ultraconserved genomic elements

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 142, 106638.

N/A

2020

• Wilson, G.X., French, C.M., Twomey, E.M., Chávez, G., Prates, I, von May, R., la Riva, I.D., Lötters, S., Reichle, S., Serrano-Rojas, S.J., Whitworth, A., Brown, J.L.

Morphological correlates of invasion in Florida cane toad (Rhinella marina) populations: Shortening of legs and reduction in leg asymmetry as populations become established

Acta Oecologica. 109, 103652

N/A

2020

• Rubio, A.O., French, C.M., Catenazzi, A.

Speciation with introgression: Phylogeography and systematics of the Ameerega petersi group (Dendrobatidae).

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 138, 31-42.

N/A

2019

• French, C.M., Deutsch, M.S., Chávez G., Almora C.E., Brown, J.L.

The tadpole of Ameerega boehmei in southeastern Bolivia

Zootaxa. 4661, 1.

N/A

2019

• French, C.M., Burkette, C., Reichle, S., Brown, J.L.

Geographical variation in colour of female threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

PeerJ. 6:e4807.

N/A

2018

• French, C.M., Ingram, T., and Bolnick, D.I.

Rana juliani. Vocalization.

Mesoamerican Herpetology. 4(1). pp. 170.

N/A

2017

• French, C.M., Kilborn, V., and Jäger, K.L.

Diadophis punctatus regalis (Regal Ringneck Snake). DIET.

Herpetological Review. 48(2). pp. 448.

N/A

2017

• French, C.M.

SDMtoolbox 2.0: the next generation python-based: GIS toolkit for landscape genetic, biogeographic and species distribution model analyses.

PeerJ. 5:e4095.

N/A

2017

• Brown, J.L., Bennett, J., and French, C.M.

Estimating spatial demographic patterns in a dynamic environment with species distribution models and genome-wide data

Evolution

N/A

2022

• French, C.M., Hickerson, M.J., Carnaval, A.C.
• Oral presentation
• Presidential symposium: Species distributions and coexistence: the intersection of evolution and ecology.

Determinants of the global distribution of genetic diversity in terrestrial insects

New York Species Distribution Modeling Discussion Group

N/A

2021

• French, C.M.
• Invited presentation

Comparative phylogeography of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest leaf litter lizards (genus Enyalius)

World Congress of Herpetology

N/A

2020

• French, C.M., Damasceno, R., Rodrigues, M., Carnaval, A.C., Hickerson, M.J.
• Oral presentation

Using genetics to understand species responses to climate change

New York City College of Technology- Systematics Undergraduate Course

N/A

2020

• French, C.M.
• Invited presentation

A dynamic history in the Tropical Andes: phylogeography and systematics of the Ameerega petersi group (Dendrobatidae)

Evolution

N/A

2019

• French, C.M., and Brown, J.L.
• Oral presentation

Predicting global insect genetic diversity

Evolution

N/A

2019

• French, C.M., Bertola, L., Hickerson, M.J.
• Poster presentation

Climate-driven diversification in a clade of Peruvian poison frogs

Evolution

N/A

2017

• French, C.M., Brown, J.L.
• Oral presentation

Climate fluctuation as a driver of diversification in a clade of Peruvian poison frogs

Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

N/A

2017

• French, C.M., Brown, J.L.
• Oral presentation

Morphological divergence among multiple Notropis oxyrhynchus populations

American Fisheries Society

N/A

2015

• French, C.M.
• Poster presentation

Morphological assessment of hybridization between two ranid species, Lithobates juliani and L. vaillanti

Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

N/A

2015

• French, C.M.
• Oral presentation

Journal of Biogeography, Biotropica, Environmental Biology of Fishes, Molecular Ecology, Global Ecology and Biogeography

N/A

N/A

N/A

Graduate Center Digital Fellowship

City University of New York

N/A

2021 - 2019

• $56,250
• $28,125/year

Helen and Frederick Gaige Fund

American Society of Ichthyology and Herpetology

N/A

2020

• $900

Provost’s Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship for the Sciences

City University of New York

N/A

2020

• $5,000

Student Scholarship

World Congress of Herpetology

N/A

2020

• $940

Graduate Research Excellence Grant RC Lewontin Early Award

Society for the Study of Evolution

N/A

2019

• $2,300

Charles & Florence Foote Teaching Award in Zoology

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2018

• $750

Biodiversity Under Environmental Change Seed Grant

City College of New York

N/A

2018

• $2,500

Digital Initiatives Training Grant

City University of New York

N/A

2018

• $500

Zoology Graduate Student Association Travel Award

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

• $100

Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab Featured Graduate Student

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

Undergraduate Research Fellowship

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2015

• $1,000

University Honors

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2014

General Education Scholarship

University of North Texas

N/A

2012 - 2011

• $6,000

Dean’s List

University of North Texas

N/A

2012

Undergraduate Diversity at Evolution

Evolution Meeting

N/A

2019

• Mentored two undergraduates attending their first conference

Krista Jäger

Dalhousie University

N/A

2017 - 2016

• Assisted honors thesis investigating ranid frog population genetics
• Co-authored natural history note on Rana juliani vocalization

Michael Deutsche

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

• Undergraduate assistant, learning lab techniques and experimental design in anuran morphometrics
• Senior project on poison frog call variation
• Co-authored resulting publication

Predicting global insect diversity

Science Day

City College of New York

2019

• Invited oral presentation

Peru: where plan C comes first

Herpetology Club

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

2017

• Oral presentation

There and back again: divergence and convergence in poison frogs

Darwin Week

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

2017

• Invited oral presentation

Sightseers slither into southern Illinois for Snake Road

Daily Egyptian

N/A

2017

• Interview

Frog diversity and evolution

Kealing Middle School Magnet Program Zoology Club

N/A

2016

• Invited lecture

Frogs: weird wonders of the natural world

Lamar Fine Arts Academy Middle School

N/A

2016

• Invited lecture

Applied Machine Learning

R Studio Conference

Austin, TX

2019

• Workshop

Machine Learning for Scientists

City University of New York

N/A

2019

• Course

The Fundamentals of UX Research

City University of New York

N/A

2019

• Workshop

Genome Assembly and Annotation

American Museum of Natural History

N/A

2019

• Workshop

Analysis of Rad-Sequence Data (RadCamp)

Instituto de Biociências

Universidade de São Paulo

2018

• Workshop

Biostatistics

City University of New York

N/A

2018

• Course

Introduction to GIS

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

• Course

Quantitative Zoogeography

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2017

• Course

Intermediate Computational Statistics

Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

N/A

2016

• Course

Biostatistics

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2014

• Course

Intro to NGS Bioinformatics

University of Texas at Austin

N/A

2013

• Workshop

Society for the Study of Evolution

N/A

N/A

current - 2017